Shanks, could your aversion to orientate have anything to with where you went to school? I find the word jarring "myself" even though NZ English follows British English quite closely. Given that my (single parent) father taught his children to read, I wondered if there might be a chance that "orient" is standard in the English taught on the subcontinent. Or am I, to use that wonderfully colourful, if politically incorrect, expression from the days of Raj, just going doolally?